SC restrains Srinivasan from taking charge as BCCI chief

The Supreme Court on Monday did not lift its order restraining N Srinivasan from taking charge as BCCI president, observing there was “something seriously wrong with the apex cricket body which has lost its credibility”.

Asking the BCCI not to be in a hurry to let Srinivasan perform the president’s role, a Bench of Justice AK Patnaik and Justice JS Kehar told the Board to hand over a copy of its proposal to the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) that had moved the top court to restrain Srinivasan from contesting the election.

The court had on September 27 allowed him to stand for election, but had said he would not take charge until further orders. The CAB has already appealed before the top court, challenging the Bombay High Court order that had declined to constitute a fresh probe panel to look into the allegations of spot-fixing and betting against Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan. The panel had given a clean chit to Meiyappan. However, the Mumbai Police has filed a chargesheet against him.

“One thing is clear from the fact that so many things are coming from the IPL. So many things are there. Something is seriously wrong with the apex cricket body,” the Bench said, adding, “Please tell us as to why it (BCCI) has lost the credibility.”

The court noted that for a fair probe, Srinivasan had to remain out of anything to do with IPL. It asked the CAB to respond to the BCCI, which has suggested constituting a committee under the chairmanship of either Arun Jaitley or Vinay Dutta, both advocates, to probe the controversies surrounding the IPL.

In that event, it wants Srinivasan to take charge as president to discharge the constitutional functions under the BCCI regulations. Senior advocate, Harish Salve, appearing for the CAB, said, “The IPL is part of BCCI. Moreover, the son-in-law is the principal of the team (Chennai Super Kings), which is owned by India Cements. Srinivasan is a part of the company (India Cements).”

He said due to Meiyappan’s involvement, the BCCI would also have to take a decision on revoking the franchise. This, he added, wouldn’t be possible if Srinivasan was at the helm of affairs.